Scotland beat Denmark but narrowly miss out on third spot

Scotland narrowly missed out on finishing third in Group B after a convincing 75 run win against Denmark on Sunday.

After winning the toss Kyle Coetzer elected to bat first in slightly cloudy conditions at the Global Cricket Academy in Dubai.

Richie Berrington and Calum MacLeod opened the innings for Scotland, and things got off to a shaky start as Berrington was bowled in the first over.

Matt Machan then joined MacLeod and the pair batted aggressively to take the Scotland score past 100.

MacLeod hit five fours and a six on his way to 41 and was unfortunate not to reach his fourth half century of the tournament. He was undone by Michael Pedersen, stumped by Freddie Klokker with the score on 103/2.

Machan continued to bat sensibly and punishing the bad ball when it came his way. Michael Leask came to crease he immediately looked to hit the ball to all parts of the ground -his 41 runs comng from only 20 balls, as he struck two fours and four sixes.

When Leask departed in the 17th over, skying a catch to Klokker behind the stumps, Scotland had moved swiftly on to 165/3 as Machan got into his rhythm, reaching his 50 from 31 deliveries.

Rob Taylor struck two big sixes, including one which took out the analyst camera. Whilst Machan continued to dominate the bowlers, his 90 runs came from only 50 balls, and included nine fours and four sixes to help Scotland finish their innings on a massive 205/3.

In reply Scotland claimed the wicket by Yassir Iqbal when he guided the ball to Majid Haq from the bowling of Neil Carter in the first over of the innings, with Denmark eventually getting off the mark in the second over.

Michael Pedersen was the stand out batsmen for Denmark, making a steady 43, but wickets fell at regular intervals around him. Denmark finished their innings on 130 giving Scotland the win by 75 runs.

The wickets were shared between the bowlers with Sharif, Goudie, Carter, Machan and Haq all claiming one apiece.

It was only confirmed at the end of the game that had Scotland restricted Denmark to one run less, they would have pipped Nepal into third spot.

After the game Kyle Coetzer said, “I thought we played a great game of cricket again today. Machan again, MacLoed and Leak played a bit part in the massive win, and the bowlers did their bit in the end.

I guess you have to say that we’re pleased to be in the next phase now. The situation we were in initially was tricky, but we’re through to the next stage of the competition and we just have to focus on that.”

Scotland will now travel to Abu Dhabi tomorrow before playing their first match, which is likely to be Italy, on Wednesday. It now means Scotland must win their two play-off matches to reach the T20 World Cup.